Bank robbery suspect shot, killed during SWAT response in Hamilton Co.

READING — An officer shot and killed a man suspected of robbing a bank at gunpoint Monday.

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Reading Police requested mutual aid from surrounding law enforcement agencies to the 1200 block of Third Street after officers tracked down a man accused of robbing a Fifth Third Bank at gunpoint Monday afternoon, around 1:30 p.m., a spokesperson for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office said.

As part of the response, the county’s sheriff’s office and SWAT team were dispatched to the scene.

Michael Craddock, 34, identified as the suspect, left the home in question through the back door and pointed a gun at officers who surrounded the residence upon arrival, WCPO reported.

An Amberley Village officer fired one round at Craddock, which hit the suspect “in the upper body,” the spokesperson said. Craddock then went back into the house.

The Hamilton County SWAT team later forced their entry and found Craddock dead “from an apparent gunshot wound,” the spokesperson said.

“They kept telling him to come out with your hands up keep your hands,” Steve Meiser, a neighbor who witnessed the standoff, said. “The next thing I know, I see SWAT and all of their patrol cars and everything and they had their guns out.”

Meiser was on his front porch watching the scene develop when he heard the gunshot followed by a loud explosion just before the SWAT team raided the home.

“They asked us to go inside, they didn’t want us being a bystander for the flying bullets, you never know, never know what’s going to happen,” Meiser said.

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office investigated the officer-involved shooting.

Anyone with information connected to the shooting was asked to call the sheriff’s office at 513-851-6000 or text the HCSO tip line at 513-586-5533.

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